Heidfeld celebrates 'great' result

The BMW Sauber driver had to start the race from 12th position after making a mistake during his qualifying run.

But the German recovered well on Sunday and used the safety car period to perfection thanks to his strategy, which allowed him to climb up to third place.

Heidfeld had to pit again and dropped to fourth, but he was still delighted with the result.

"Coming fourth from 12th on the grid is a great result," said Heidfeld. "Not making it into the top ten in qualifying meant we were free to choose our fuel load afterwards, and so we went for a rather long first stint. That's why I was able to stay out during the safety car period when almost everybody else was refuelling.

"That was certainly crucial as I was able to pull away as soon as the traffic was behind me. Before that I couldn't show my true speed as I never had a clear lap. The car was good and the fact that I set the fastest race lap proves it.

"In the end I was very close to Felipe, but still had no chance to overtake him. It was a good home race for me and I'm happy I could give something back to the fans who may have been disappointed by my qualifying performance yesterday."

Robert Kubica had to be content with seventh position, the Pole claiming he was baffled by a sudden loss of performance from his tyres.

"It is difficult to be happy after a race like this," admitted Kubica. "During the first half of the race I was able to match the pace of McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. Suddenly my car's pace was miles too slow.

"My tyres lost lots of grip, and perhaps this was because my tyres cooled down too much. We now have to analyse the data."